BILL NUMBER: AB 2099 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 24, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Frazier
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Medina and Williams)
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
An act to add Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 67100) to Part
40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, relating to
postsecondary education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2099, as amended, Frazier. Postsecondary education: Title 38
awards.
Title 38 of the United States Code provides educational awards for
eligible active duty members and veterans of the Armed Forces of the
United States. Existing law requires an institution headquartered or
operating in California desiring to enroll students eligible for
federal Title 38 awards in accredited courses to make application for
approval of these courses to the California State Approving Agency
for Veterans Education, commonly known as CSAAVE, and authorizes
CSAAVE to approve the application of the school when the school and
its accredited courses satisfy the specified criteria and any
additional reasonable criteria established by CSAAVE.
Unless an exception applies, this bill would deem a public or
private postsecondary educational institution that is
accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States
Department of Education eligible for initial and renewal Title 38
awards if the institution has a 3-year cohort default rate less than
15.5% and a graduation rate of greater than 30% for students taking
150% or less of the expected time to complete degree requirements,
and satisfies the other criteria for qualification for Title 38
awards in the bill. The bill would deem a private postsecondary
educational institution that does not meet the cohort default
rate or graduation rate requirement, but that is accredited by an
accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of
Education, eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards if the
institution is issued an approval to operate from the Bureau for
Private Postsecondary Education and satisfies the other criteria for
qualification for Title 38 awards in the bill.
The bill would require CSAAVE to certify
verify by November 1 of each year a public or private
institution's latest 3-year cohort default rate and graduation rate
as most recently reported by the United States Department of
Education Education, and a private
postsecondary educational institution's approval to
operate issued by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education if
that private postsecondary educational institution fails
to satisfy the cohort default rate or graduation rate requirement.
The bill would require CSAAVE to notify initial Title 38 recipients
seeking to attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible
for initial and renewal Title 38 awards that the institution is
ineligible for Title 38 awards for the academic year, and to provide
initial and renewal Title 38 recipients at an ineligible institution
with a complete list of all California postsecondary educational
institutions at which the student would be eligible to receive
a Title 38 award.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 12.5 (commencing with Section 67100) is added
to Part 40 of Division 5 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:
CHAPTER 12.5. TITLE 38 AWARDS
67100. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) Section 21.4253 of Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations
requires a postsecondary educational institution
headquartered or operating in California desiring to enroll veterans
or persons eligible for Title 38 awards in accredited courses to make
application for approval of these courses to the California State
Approving Agency for Veterans Education, commonly known as CSAAVE, as
the state approving agency legally designated pursuant to Section
3671 of Subchapter I of Chapter 36 of Title 38 of the United States
Code.
(b) Section 21.4253 authorizes CSAAVE to approve the application
of the school when the school and its accredited courses satisfy the
criteria provided in Section 21.4253 and additional reasonable
criteria established by CSAAVE.
(c) It is reasonable pursuant to Section 21.4253 for CSAAVE to
require an institution, public or private, to maintain a three-year
cohort default rate and graduation rate that satisfies the
three-year cohort default rate and graduation rate
requirements of the Cal Grant Program, or for the private
postsecondary educational institution to be approved by
the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, and to require the
institution, public or private, to comply with all federal and state
laws and regulations, and any additional reasonable criteria
established by CSAAVE, in order for the institution to be
eligible for initial and renewal Title 38 awards.
67101. The Title 38 Funding Program is hereby established, under
the administration of the California State Approving Agency for
Veterans Education. The California State Approving Agency for
Veterans Education shall approve courses at public or
private postsecondary educational qualifying
institutions desiring to enroll veterans or persons eligible for
Title 38 awards in accordance with federal law, this chapter, and
other reasonable criteria established by the California State
Approving Agency for Veterans Education.
67102. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) An "academic year" is July 1 to June 30, inclusive. The
starting date of a session shall determine the academic year in which
it is included.
(b) "CSAAVE" is the California State Approving Agency for Veterans
Education.
(c) (1) "Qualifying institution" means an institution that
complies with paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5), and either paragraph
(6) or (7).
(2) (A) The institution shall provide information on where to
access California license examination passage rates for the most
recent available year from graduates of its undergraduate programs
leading to employment for which passage of a California licensing
examination is required, if that data is electronically available
through the Internet Web site of a California licensing or regulatory
agency. For purposes of this paragraph, "provide" may exclusively
include placement of an Internet Web site address labeled as an
access point for the data on the passage rates of recent program
graduates on the Internet Web site where enrollment information is
also located, on an Internet Web site that provides centralized
admissions information for postsecondary educational systems with
multiple campuses, or on applications for enrollment or other program
information distributed to prospective students.
(B) The institution shall be responsible for certifying to CSAAVE
compliance with the requirements of subparagraph (A).
(3) The institution shall provide evidence of accreditation
of all degree programs to CSAAVE from an accrediting agency
recognized by the United States Department of Education. An
institution offering an unaccredited degree that is participating in
Title 38 award programs on January 1, 2015, shall have until January
1, 2016, to obtain and provide evidence to CSAAVE of its candidacy
or preaccreditation status for accreditation
with an accrediting agency recognized by the United States
Department of Education in order for the institution to be eligible
for Title 38 awards for the academic year of 2015-16, or 2016-17, or
both, and to obtain and provide evidence to CSAAVE of full
accreditation from the accrediting agency by January 1,
2017, to be eligible for Title 38 awards for the academic year of
2017-18, and each academic year thereafter.
(4) The institution shall provide, in a manner prescribed by
CSAAVE, information on the institution's veteran student retention
rate and graduation rate, time to degree, cohort default rate, and
graduate placement and graduate starting salary for its veteran
students. CSAAVE shall require that, to the extent feasible, the
collection of information and reporting calculations pursuant to this
paragraph comply with federal and state reporting requirements.
(5) The institution shall provide to CSAAVE evidence of compliance
with the federal Principles of Excellence program.
(6) (A) The institution shall meet the school performance
standards required in this paragraph. CSAAVE shall
certify verify by November 1 of each year the
institution's latest three-year cohort default rate and graduation
rate as most recently reported by the United States Department of
Education.
(B) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every academic
year thereafter, the institution maintains
shall maintain a three-year cohort default rate that is less
than 15.5 percent, as certified by CSAAVE.
percent, and a graduation rate of greater than 30 percent for
students taking 150 percent or less of the expected time to complete
degree requirements.
(C) For purposes of the 2015-16 academic year, and every academic
year thereafter, the institution maintains a graduation rate of
greater than 30 percent for students taking 150 percent or less of
the expected time to complete degree requirements, as reported by the
United States Department of Education and as certified by CSAAVE
pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(D)
(C) Notwithstanding any other law, the requirements of
this paragraph shall not apply to institutions with 40 percent or
less of undergraduate students borrowing federal student loans,
as verified by CSAAVE, using information reported to the United
States Department of Education for the academic year two years
before the year in which CSAAVE is certifying
verifying the three-year cohort default rate or graduation
rate pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(E)
(D) Notwithstanding subparagraph (C)
(B), an otherwise qualifying institution with a
three-year cohort default rate that is less than 10 percent and a
graduation rate above 20 percent for students taking 150 percent or
less of the expected time to complete degree requirements, as
certified verified by CSAAVE pursuant
to subparagraph (A), shall remain eligible for initial and renewal
Title 38 awards at the institution through the 2018-19 academic year.
(F)
(E) If the United States Department of Education
corrects or revises an institution's three-year cohort default rate
or graduation rate that would have otherwise failed to satisfy the
requirements established pursuant to subparagraph (B), (C),
or (E), (B) or (D), as applicable, and the
corrections or revision results in the institution's three-year
default rate or graduation rate satisfying those requirements, the
institution shall immediately regain its eligibility for the academic
year to which the corrected or revised three-year default rate or
graduation rate would have been applied.
(G)
(F) A private postsecondary educational
institution that becomes ineligible for initial and renewal Title 38
awards pursuant to this paragraph shall be provided an opportunity to
gain eligibility. eligibility under the
requirements of paragraph (7). CSAAVE shall establish rules and
procedures to govern the institution's transition to eligibility to
ensure students who would otherwise receive initial and renewal
awards are not adversely affected during the transition.
(7) (A) The institution is a private postsecondary
educational institution issued an approval to operate from
, and is subject to the regulatory oversight and enforcement of
student protections provided by, the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education.
(B) CSAAVE shall certify by November 1 of each year whether a
private postsecondary educational institution has been
issued an approval to operate from the Bureau for Private
Postsecondary Education, if that institution fails to satisfy the
requirements of paragraph (6).
67103. CSAAVE shall do all of the following:
(a) Notify initial Title 38 recipients seeking to attend, or
attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial and renewal
Title 38 awards under this chapter that the institution is ineligible
for initial Title 38 awards for the academic year for which the
student received an initial Title 38 award.
(b) Provide initial and renewal Title 38 recipients seeking to
attend, or attending, an institution that is ineligible for initial
and renewal Title 38 awards at the institution under this chapter
with a complete list of all California postsecondary educational
institutions at which the student would be eligible to receive a
Title 38 award.
67104. Compliance with this chapter, in and of itself, shall not
be construed as satisfying the requirements for participation in
programs authorized by the federal Higher Education Act, including,
but not limited to, Section 600.9 of Title 34 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.